Here's a small and interesting story: New Scientist have a report from an experiment done by Paul Cairns, a professor of human-computer interaction at the University of York. The idea was to see if the placebo effect which has been tested in other areas works the say way in computer gaming.

To test this, his team had several players play Don't Starve and told them that while the first map would be random, the second map would be using an adaptive AI that changed the difficulty level according to the player's skill. The better the player, the harder the map would become, and vice versa. In the survey the players filled out after finishing the game, players revealed the placebo effect. According to the article:

"Neither game used AI – both versions of the game were identically random. But when players thought that they were playing with AI, they rated the game as more immersive and more entertaining."

The results are backed up by psychologist Walter Boot at Florida State University, who concludes that the experiments clearly show how "expectations influence people’s gaming experiences".

I find it an interesting read and it makes me wonder how many Heroes VII players have their playing experience marred by having their expectations lowered by reading reviews beforehand. After all, as the experiment clearly shows: if you expect the AI to be bad because people have told you it is, you may experience it as such no matter the actual quality. What if you're a medium to low-level player who doesn't care too much about the AI - maybe it would be good enough if it was of a medium quality? A competitive player would find it inadequate. Reading a review written by the latter could lower expectations even for players who have lower requirements.

Something I will definitely keep in mind when writing our review.